Sentimentality
by Melinda Coulson
Summary: Prompt: Phil is forced to watch May get tortured.


**Prompt given to me by Philindafanfic on Tumblr. **

**If you have a prompt you'd like me to write, just let know and I'll get on it when I can! **

**Apologies for any egregious errors. **

**Enjoy~**

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"Be reasonable, Agent Coulson. If you simply tell us the location of your base, we'll gladly end your suffering."

"Go to hell and you might find it," Coulson sneered defiantly.

"I was afraid you were going to say that," the Hydra interrogator shook his head in faux disappointment.

Two hours, six minutes and thirty-nine seconds. That's how long Hydra has been interrogating Coulson. They made a point to have a large timer in front of him to record how long it takes them to break him. They told him that they wanted him to see how long it would take them to crack him. He had to know exactly how weak he was and how good they were.

He had been out trying to contact old S.H.I.E.L.D members to recruit and one had tipped Hydra off to their meeting. Phil should have known better than to let his guard down, but he did. Before he could react to the obvious betrayal of his old comrade, Hydra agents were able to knock him out and when he woke up, he was tied to a chair in their interrogation room.

So far, their interrogation and torture tactics were amateur at best. Some electroshock here and there, a few cuts and burns, but nothing he's never dealt with before. He took a Chitauri scepter to the heart for crying out loud, this was all child's play compared to that.

"Sir," a Hydra underling interrupted them. "it's ready."

"Oh, wonderful," his captor clasped his hands together with cheer, "now the fun can really begin." He turned to Coulson with malicious mirth in his eyes. "This, Agent Coulson, is when your misery will really take place."

The Hydra interrogator tilted Coulson's chair back before swinging him around to face the wall. It began to lift and revealed a large glass window that leads into another room. Coulson's brows furrowed in concern as he wondered what stunt Hydra was about to perform.

"You know, Agent Coulson," the interrogator was leaning so that his face was right next to Coulson's as they both watched the door in the other room open and two Hydra agents entered, one of them carrying in another prisoner. "When John Garrett wrote in your file that 'The Cavalry' would follow you to your grave," Coulson's eyes widened with fear when he recognized the captive in the other room, "well, we didn't quite believe him at first." They strapped her incapacitated body into a chair directly facing him. "But imagine our joy when we realized he was right." Coulson's breathing became erratic as he looked over her vulnerable state. "Say hello, and goodbye, to you best friend, Agent Coulson."

"Don't you dare lay a finger on her," Coulson threatened. He didn't realize how exhausted he had felt until that moment.

"Oh, don't you worry, Agent Coulson," the interrogator walked over to the wall and pressed a button. "I won't touch single hair on her head." His smile turned malicious as he turned to watch through the window once more.

Coulson's eyes darted back to Melinda and he watched one of the agents check her bonds before dumping a bucket of cold water over her. He heard May as she coughed and shook, coming back into consciousness. The button his captor had pressed turned the speakers on in the room so that everything from the other room could be heard perfectly.

May look angry when she realized what situation she was in and immediately began struggling against her bonds. She pulled aggressively, tearing into her skin and drawing a small amount of blood. Before she could continue for much longer, one of Hydra agents in the room took a whip and slapped her in the face with it.

Coulson tensed, but when he saw May's face turn back towards the Hydra agent she only looked angrier. He chuckled a little at her reaction and realized that she probably couldn't see him; she hadn't reacted to his presence whatsoever.

"Agent May," Coulson heard one of the agents speak, "we suggest you don't struggle too much. It may mean dire consequence for Agent Coulson."

"I suggest you stop speaking before you really piss me off," May threatened confidently.

"She is a feisty one isn't she?" Coulson's attention was drawn back to his interrogator. "Now, why don't you tell me where S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters are before that statement becomes past-tense."

"You'll never get that information out of either of us. May's stronger than any of you think, and smarter. She'll get out before your agents even have a moment to react."

A smile suddenly spread on the Hydra agent's face. "I was hoping you'd say that." He pressed another button on the panel against the wall and Phil saw a brief flash of green in the other room.

Coulson watched with concern as May tracked her captors around the room. Suddenly, May lets out a brief scream before biting her lip to cut it off. Phil's eyes widen with fear as he watched his beloved best friend get electrocuted with a voltage obviously higher than his own. He saw a drop of blood trail from her lip as she bit down harder, resisting the desire to scream with pain.

Once it stopped, May fell forward in her chair as she tried to control her breathing. The look of pain on her face quickly returned to its stoic default. She look tired, but still had a defiant glimmer in her eyes.

"You'll have to do a lot more than that to stop me," she warned them.

"Did that _jolt_ any of your memories, Agent Coulson? Perhaps on the location of your base?"

"The only thing that jolted was my intense desire to kick your ass once I get out of this." Coulson hid his fear and concern for May behind anger. He was going to see to it that this man, and anyone else who hurt her, would suffer his personal revenge.

"Well, I suppose we'll be having a long night then, won't we?"

Without further warning, the other agents increased May's electrocution voltage and proceeded to torture her. Coulson's interrogator turned Phil's head and forced him to watch as May suffered because of his silence.

This dynamic continued for half an hour and Hydra changed their means of torture several times, but each time they ensured that Phil was watching every second. They had May whipped, beat, stabbed, and even water-boarded. Each time, both refused to speak or stand down, but it was getting harder and harder for Coulson.

The interrogator explained how easy it was to capture the famous Melinda May. Once word got around that they had captured Agent Phil Coulson and the location of their holding, she just came right to them. She put up a good fight, he'd give her that, but the second someone threatened Phil's life, her guard was lowered for just a second. It was long enough for someone to knock her out from behind.

"It's funny how weak love can make someone," the interrogator had commented. "Even the Cavalry isn't immune to its hold," he paused for a moment. "Are you, Agent Coulson?"

"We will get out of this," Phil ignored his question, "and when we do, you'll be number one on her personal hit list."

The interrogator gave an amused chuckle. "Well then, Agent Coulson, for Agent May's sake, I hope that escape comes sooner rather than later. From the looks of it, I don't think she'll be able to walk much longer."

With that, another green light flashed to signal the continuance of May's torture. However, before the agents could do much damage, the lights in the entire building shut off. Phil saw a few flashes of light in the other room and heard a thud in his own. Then, his bonds were lifted and glasses were placed over his eyes. They were the night-vision prototypes that Fitz-Simmons were working on.

"Let's get you out of here, Director." Bobbi said and he smiled when he was able to recognize her.

They got into the corridor and instead of following Bobbi towards the exit, he turned and ran as best as he could towards the room he knew May was being held.

"Coulson," Bobbi called out as she followed after him, "the exit is this way. Skye and Hunter went for May, don't worry. She'll be fine."

Coulson ignored her reassurance and nearly collided with Hunter and Skye as he entered May's room. She was barely conscious and was being supported up by both agents.

"May," he whispered softly as he brushed the hair from her face with his hands. "I'm so sorry."

She gave a weak nod before Bobbi pulled Coulson away and led the group towards the exit. "I'm sorry, Coulson, but we need to get out. They'll be sending back in any moment and we need to get to the Bus now. Mack is already ready for take off once we get in."

The five of them were able to make it back to the Bus without too much of a hassle and May was immediately sent to the medical station for Simmons to examine her. Once she was safe on the Bus, May allowed herself to rest and fell unconscious. Simmons ran tests and confirmed that May would survive the trip home but she would need plenty of bed rest and several stitches.

Phil had stayed unusually quiet once they arrived back on the Bus and reassured everyone that he was okay. It was only a few cuts and burns, but Simmons insisted on examining him after they made sure May would be fine. Simmons patched him up and treated his burns, but told him that he would also need to go dark for a while. He accepted this diagnosis, but insisted on staying by May's side for the trip back to the Playground. After several minutes of arguing, everyone acquised and left him alone with May. He sat by her side and caressed her hand lovingly with his thumb.

"May," he spoke to her softly, "I'm so sorry you had to go through all that. I'm sorry I couldn't stop it sooner." He watched as her chest rose and fell with her breathing. He loved her so much and having to witness her torture was the worst thing he'd seen thus far. "I swear to you, I'll never let anyone do that to you again. Not if I'm around. I swear."

"Phil," he heard her weeze softly and he immediately got to his feet in order to look at her face. Her eyes opened slightly to look at him with a small smile at the corner of her lips. "Sentimentality could get you killed."

A soft chuckle left Coulson's lips and he brushed away a few stray hairs from her face. "Speaking from experience are you?"

They both shared a small laugh, before the smile left May's face and she focused on her breathing. Coulson never stopped caressing her hand and stared at her with concern.

"I won't let them though," Phil broke the silence. "hurt you again." May's eyes drifted towards his face weakly as they stayed hidden behind heavy lids. "You mean a lot to me, Melinda. A lot."

A small smile graced May's features as she visibly relaxed into the bed and began to allow sleep to encompass her.

"I know," she replied drowsily, "I love you, too."


End file.
